Streaker Ramblings - New Year's Day Race 01.01.2019

 

Mostly overcast but with breaks developing as I drove to Piddinghoe for the New Year’s Day race. On arrival there was a very light breeze coming from somewhere in the north quadrant. After some repairs – to the rear of the daggerboard slot – to the plate ‘buffer’, the boat was rigged ready for the fray.

Laurence Venus arrived to take on the mantle of RO with Toby Rollestone  acting as ARO and Chris Turner in the safety boat. Laurence set a course as shown below, taking in all the corners of the pond and with a start line set between two buoys in front of the clubhouse. The ODM was ignored after the start.

The breeze settled a little as the 17 boat fleet went float but it died to next to nothing during the start sequence. At the start gun nobody was going anywhere fast and there was severe congestion particularly at the ODM.

 

Rupert Smith (Streaker, NSSC) was one of the first away from near the middle of the line with Roger McCall (Laser  full rig, Pevensey) close to the west shore end and Tim Cox (Radial, NSSC) coming across on Starboard just astern.

 

Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS 200, NSSC) were among the first group to round the mark off the Fisherman’s Bay and lauched their Gennaker on the leg to the mark in the south east corner following Rupert with Duncan McDonald (Streaker, NSSC) having taken the lead.

By the end of the first lap the order crossing the ‘finish’ line was 1^st Duncan, 2^nd, Rupert, 3^rd Michael, 4^th Roger, 5^th Alan Simmons (Streaker, Lancing), 6^th Tim, 7^th Terry Jones (Comet,NSSC), 8^th Ed Rollestone (Laser 4.7, NSSC). 9^th Richard Beal (Radial, NSSC), 10^th Penelope Duncan (Radial, NSSC), 11^th Zoe McCaig (Radial, NSSC), 12^th Tiger Coz (Topper, NSSC), 13^th Lucy McCaig (Topper, NSSC), 14^th Alice Smith (Topper, NSSC),15^th Brandon Rudd and Lewis Johns (Laser II, NSSC), 16^th, Jazz Turner (Hansa, NSSC) and 17^th Ewan Hamilton (Oppy, NSSC).

 

Lap 2 was dominated by Duncan with Rupert unable to make up much ground and Alan getting ahead of Michael and Roger as Roger took over fourth slot. Tim , Terry and Ed.R stayed 6^th, 7^th and 8^th whilst Penelope went ahead of Richard with Zoe astern in 11^th place. Alice got past Tiger  and Lucy to lie 12^th. Next across the line was Brandon having overtaken Tiger who dropped back to 15^th with just Jazz and Ewan behind him.

 

 

Lap 3 was led by Duncan still with Rupert just over half a minute astern and Alan behind him some 18 seconds ahead of Roger and Michael still in 5^th place. Tim was still 7th ahead of Ed.R with Zoe now up to 8^th place ahead of Terry Penelope and Richard. Alice continued to lead the Topper contingent with Tiger back up to 13^th astern of her and Lucy behind him. Brandon dropped back a place to lie 15^th with Jazz and Ewan behind him.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 4 No place changes among the front 7 boats but with Duncan extending his lead over Rupert to 62 seconds. Penelope passed Zoe and Terry to lie 8^th with Richard also going ahead of them to lie 9^th. Alice at 12^th remained ahead of the rest of the fleet, Ewan having been finished at the end of lap 3.

 

 

Lap 5 saw Duncan continuing to pull away from second placed Rupert – now 78 seconds ahead. Alan, still 3^rd, continued to resist challenges from Roger and Michael with Tim some way back in 6^th place. Apart from the two leaders the rest of the fleet finished at the end of this lap. With Ed.R finishing 7^thand Penelope 8^th, Zoe went ahead of Richard once more to cross 9^th leaving Terry to bring up the rear in 11^th place the Toppers, Barndon and Jazz having been finished at the end of lap 4.

Lap 6 and as stated before this lap was only sailed by Duncan and Rupert with the former increasing the gap even more.

With handicaps applied the finishing order was Duncan first, Rupert second Jazz third, Alan fourth and Ed.R 5^th.

R1

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Chops	Streaker	2102	NSSC	Duncan McDonald		1128	46.43	0.00.00	1.0
2	Scoundrel	Streaker	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1128	48.15	0.01.32	2.0
3	Daisy	Hansa	5	NSSC	Jazz Turner		1610	47.01	0.02.34	3.0
4	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1128	43.04	0.04.08	4.0
5		Laser 4.7	4.7	NSSC	Ed Rollestone 'c'		1207	46.15	0.04.36	5.0
6		Laser Radial	8	NSSC	Tim Cox		1142	44.30	0.05.05	6.0
7		Laser	191067	Pevensey SC	Roger McCall		1098	43.16	0.05.22	7.0
8		Topper	1	NSSC	Alice Smith		1358	43.21	0.05.51	8.0
9		Comet	473	NSSC	Terry Jones		1205	48.10	0.06.35	9.0
10		Topper	41179	NSSC	Tiger Cox		1358	43.34	0.06.04	10.0
11		Topper	4	NSSC	Lucy McCaig 'c'		1358	44.09	0.06.39	11.0
12		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1142	46.39	0.07.14	12.5
12		Laser Radial	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1142	46.39	0.07.14	12.5
14	Hot Toddy	RS200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1051	43.32	0.07.16	14.5
14		Laser Radial	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		1142	47.18	0.07.53	14.5
16	Heat Wave	Oppy	4064	NSSC	Ewan Hamilton 'c'		1655	41.29	0.07.13	16.0
17		Laser II	10098	NSSC	Brandon Rudd	Lewis Johns	1075	44.31	0.14.50	17.0

A nice race, once the breeze finally settled after the start to a good force 2? Not too desperate and I am happy to report that, as far as was seen, nobody managed to capsize. It was a fair sized fleet at seventeen boats – more than last year – so a few more must have stayed , relatively, sober the previous evening/night.

Next Sunday sees the start of the 2019 Numbum race Series – 10.30 starts please note. NW 7 to 8 Knots forecast on XCWeather.

Alan.S 1700

 

Thanks to Bill Wates for taking the photos used in ths report  - using my Camera once more.